Research

Original and collaborative projects that expand our understanding of disease states that affect our patients.

At Cook County Health, we focus on original and collaborative projects that expand our understanding of disease states that affect our patients.

We work to understand the root causes of healthcare disparities that affect the public. We also do research projects that allow our patients to have access to cutting edge treatments, or study ways to deliver high quality cost-effective care.

All projects are reviewed to ensure that they align with the mission of the health system and our affiliates. Research proposals are reviewed by our federally approved institutional review board that includes community representatives to protect research volunteers.

iPrEx OLE-HIV Prevention among men who have sex with men. iPrEx OLE (OLE stands for Open Label Extension) is a continuation of the iPrEx study designed to provide additional information about the safety of PrEP and the behavior of people taking PrEP over a longer term. It is hoped that participants’ knowledge that Truvada PrEP provides some protection against HIV infection, and the fact that all HIV-negative participants in iPrEx OLE know that they are receiving Truvada PrEP and not a placebo, will lead to increased use of the study drug by participants in iPrEx OLE, and increased protection against HIV infection

CARPE

Overview: Researchers from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) and Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) are collaborating to form the Chicago Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention Epicenter (CARPE). The Epicenter has developed a clinical data warehouse using data from the electronic health records from affiliated hospitals, laboratories, and ambulatory clinics. The data warehouse is being used to monitor the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, to track healthcare-associated bloodstream infections, and to assess antibiotic use. Innovations developed for the CARPE data warehouse are being leveraged for a Chicago citywide effort to implement electronic laboratory reporting of communicable diseases and are helping to provide mechanisms for automated surveillance for key modules in CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The data warehouse also will facilitate rapid detection and automated surveillance of infectious diseases as part of the Epicenter’s quality improvement initiatives.

Chicago Developmental Center for AIDS Research

The Chicago D-CFAR is a collaboration between Rush University Medical Center, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Cook County Health & Hospitals System. Our goal is to provide a collaborative environment for scientific and clinical advances in HIV/AIDS. These advances are then shared not only within the medical and scientific communities but also with the public at large. The Chicago D-CFAR seeks to bridge gaps in HIV/AIDS research, education, awareness, and services by engaging those with the most prestigious expertise and experience. The CCHHS Ruth M Rothstein CORE Center houses the Clinical Core of the D-CFAR which seeks to provide clinicians with support to increase the impact of clinical HIV research in the Illinois Medical District and assure that the work of the Chicago D-CFAR is responsive to the concerns of the community served by CCHHS.

Although screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) has been widely recommended by multiple professional and health care organizations, recent systematic reviews of the literature have not found evidence for the effectiveness of screening to improve health outcomes for women exposed to IPV.

The objectives of this study are to establish the cost and effectiveness of routine screening for IPV and referral to IPV services compared to universal education or no intervention on disability, quality of life, utilization of health care services and IPV services, and exposure to IPV, and to identify other potential side effects (adverse and beneficial) of these interventions.

In this protocol, we propose conducting a randomized controlled trial with three arms to establish the impact of screening and referral to services for women disclosing exposure to IPV. In the first arm, participants will be screened, and if disclosing IPV, will receive information on available resources in the community. In arms two and three, participants will not be screened, but one group will receive information on available resources in the community and the other will not. All three groups will be assessed for disability, quality of life, and utilization of health care and IPV services at baseline and at a 12 month follow-up.

This study will be conducted at the several facilities within the Cook County Bureau of Health Services including the CORE center and other community-based network clinics such as Logan Square and at the Rush- Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center.

Women Interagency HIV Study (WIHS)

Led by Mardge Cohen, MD, CORE Center, WIHS was initiated in 1993. WIHS maintains a cohort of approximately 250 HIV-infected and 50 uninfected at-risk women in order to investigate clinical manifestations, disease progression and outcomes of HIV infection in women. It does so by:

determining the spectrum and course of clinical manifestations of HIV infection in women.

determining the pattern and rate of decline of CD4+ cells in women and the relationship of CD4+ changes to other immunologic and virologic parameters and to clinical manifestations of HIV infection.

investigating factors which may delay or accelerate HIV-induced immune dysfunction and specific manifestations of HIV associated with clinical disease.

studying factors influencing the length of survival and the quality of life of HIV+ women, with specific attention to age, race, IV drug use and non-IV drug use and drug treatment, health care utilization, MH counseling, peer support groups, family support, social service entitlements, onsite daycare, in home care, domestic violence, homelessness, HIV risk group, use and type of antiretroviral therapy, etc.

determining the rate of incident HIV sero-conversion and identifying the factors which may increase the risk of incident HIV infection among a smaller cohort of high risk women.

From there, you can view and download the WIHS Dossier of key summary statistics & publications (including a searchable database), access investigator tools necessary to establish collaborations, and also link to the CRISP database.

Diabetes

Hektoen manages several grants dealing with diabetes for Leon Fogelfeld, MD, Chairman of the Division of Endocrinology at Stroger Hospital of Cook County. The programs, funded by pharmaceutical companies, are for the treatment and evaluation of patients with diabetes. The clinical research trials are designed to evaluate treatment in subjects with Type 2 Diabetes.

The current trials being conducted are: (1) Insulin therapy in hospital wards comparing two drug protocols; (2) Clinical trials comparing the efficacy and safety of insulin alone verses two oral diabetic drugs; and (3) the study of glycemic control and safety over one year in subject with Type 2 Diabetes under diet control and exercise.

Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (SHCC MBCCOP)

John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital is a recipient of a large grant from the National Cancer Institute to provide access to NCI-sponsored national cooperative clinical trials in cancer treatment, prevention, and control. The grant supports an organization called the Stroger Hospital Cook County Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (SHCC MBCCOP), which is one of 16 MBCCOPs in the United States. The MBCCOP office is located on the 4th floor of the Administration Building. All patients seen in the cancer clinics (hematology/oncology, surgery, radiation oncology) are screened for eligibility and offered the opportunity to participate if eligible. The spectrum available trials is broad and includes all primary tumor sites. Participation in the SHCC MBCCOP activities is an important part clinical cancer care at Stroger. The SHCC MBCCOP telephone number is (312) 864-5204.

AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC)

The Hematology/Oncology Division is also a member of the Aids Malignancy Consortium the purview of which includes clinical trials and translational research relating to HIV patients with cancer. This is also supported by the NCI.